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Insomniacs, never fear! J.C.Staff have finally answered all your woes by unleashing the slumbering behemoth that is Kimi to Boku. No longer will you lie awake at night, tossing and turning your way into the Land of Nod, when one episode of this li'l baby will transport you there immediately. Plot? No, there's nothing even approaching that level of excitement here. This is what you'd describe as the standard template for the ... See full review

Story
In the Internet Generation, the word “epic” gets bandied about a lot, but once in a blue moon, a series comes along to remind us of the way we used to use it before computers came along. Odysseus defeated the warriors of Troy, then spent a decade at sea trying to get home; Dante scrabbled around in the nine circles of Hell; a party of hobbits took a gold ring to some volcano somewhere for some reason... and now, the battle lines are drawn for another venture into Fuyuki City as seven mystical titans of history fight for the prize of the Holy Grail, an omnipotent entity that can... See full review

Story
Before I get into the real meat of Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works and find out what makes it tick, I'd like to point out that this review is going to be equal parts an overview of the pros and (many) cons of this movie, an insight into the reviewing process itself and a lesson in how to write a screenplay. Why, you ask? Simply because it seems Studio Deen need to be told how to do it right.
But let's start from the top: Fate/Stay... See full review

Story
This is Daten City: the limbo world on the faultline between Heaven and Hell where angels and demons and Ghosts roam free to terrorise the unsuspecting residents. The only thing standing in the way of complete and utter chaos is the angelic duo, Panty & Stocking, mentored by their very own Messenger of God, the achingly-cool Garterbelt. Evil beware; these three are out to get ya!
Except for a few minor hitches. Panty is a nymphomaniac and Stocking is a glutton for anything... See full review

Story
There's
a common misconception that you can make a good action anime series
by following the age-old formula: the protagonists must have a
colourful past, eye-opening gun skills and an arsenal that would stun
Jack Bauer into silence. Sadly, what you also need is a plot and this
is where most action series slip up.
Dogs
unfortunately falls into this trap. In its defence, at a running time of just an hour,
there's very little story it can really eke out in the time it's been
given. You also get the feeling that this set of OAVs are a taster –
a... See full review

Story
Surfacing in manga form in the mid-70s, Glass Mask is a rare spectacle that presents the life and career of an actress as she rises to fame from humble beginnings. I call it rare because, despite the general idea existing since time immemorial, there are few writers who have dared to write a blossoming acting career in such depth as Suzue Miuchi. Perhaps because of this, the Glass Mask manga found huge success in Japan during its run and spawned a couple of anime adaptations – including this one, circa 2005.
Glass Mask follows the acting life of Maya Kitajima, a... See full review

StoryOn the face of it, Angelique sounds like an epic fantasy adventure - the heroine finds out that she has an amazing superpower, bands together with a number of talented and powerful men and attempts to repel a vast horde of ugly creatures called Thanatos, hell-bent on destroying the world. Seems pretty standard, I'd say. There's even some interesting political interplay, where a large corporation creates an anti-Thanatos weapon which ironically causes almost as much damage as the beasties they're fighting. That's about the extent of it though.
Unfortunately, Neo Angelique Abyss has a tendency... See full review

Story
I've always been wary of reviewing a Ghibli presentation - the fandom surrounding the studio is not only a Japanese phenomenon, but also one that's spread internationally. However, with Hayao Miyazaki's new film (Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea) having recently been released in Japan and set to hit Western shores sometime next year, it seems like now is the perfect time to take a retrospective look at the movies that have made him famous.
Hayao Miyazaki plays to his strengths in Laputa: his world-building skills are astonishing, submersing the viewer in a pseudo-Victorian landscape, complete... See full review

StoryIt's very rare for a series centred around magic to be any good - in recent years, we've had a magic school with particular boring storylines in the form of Happiness!; the abysmal Saint October; the yawnworthy Gift Eternal Rainbow that pretended to be a drama; and the just plain nonsensical Majokko Tsukune-chan. Unfortunately, Strait Jacket can be added to this list, and the reason I say unfortunately, is because this set of OVAs does actually start out with a lot of potential.
The initial premise is that magic exists as a science in the Strait Jacket universe and it seems to be... See full review

StoryDo not adjust your sets, the colours are meant to look like that.
Yes, this is Kaiba, a disturbingly whacky sci-fi series set in a universe where memories have been digitised and can be traded if you're lucky enough to have the riches to buy them. The beauty of Kaiba, however, is that it is a multi-faceted series, in that it melds several different genres and philosophies together to become one darkly complicated whole.
At heart, this is a love story, but there are a few major differences. The protagonist - who we'll name Kaiba for now - has amnesia (not an unusual plot device... See full review

StoryOn the surface, ef - a tale of memories seems to be your average romance anime series, featuring a range of characters forming relationships as they spiral awkwardly towards adulthood. Certainly, this series almost disappeared under the radar, and I only watched it on the recommendation of a fellow fansubber who was enjoying it himself. And I have to say, I'm glad I did.While ef - a tale of memories does follow the accepted path of romance series, it's the way it proceeds, dancing away from clichés as it goes, that really makes the series. The plot itself isn't anything... See full review

StoryThe timing of the Clannad series is a bane for Toei's movie version of the popular Key game. If this had aired a year or two before KyoAni decided to release its own version in 23-episode series form, then this would have undoubtedly had more interest than it received. As it is, I'm acutely aware that even my own experience of this movie is tainted by KyoAni's superior interpretation. Though, despite that, it's clear that Toei's version has major flaws in its storytelling.The first thing you notice is how disjointed the movie seems. One scene in... See full review

StoryThe success of Kyoto Animation and Key's last collaboration, Kanon (2006), has brought about the fourth adaptation of a Key game: Clannad. Being the fourth Key game to be adapted (and KyoAni's third) means the pressure is on for this to scale the heights reached by Air and Kanon before it.So, does it achieve this? The difficulty I had with Clannad is that the series found it hard to step out of the shadows of its predecessor Kanon (2006). The first few episodes almost felt like a continuation, to the point where Okazaki's scenes with Nagisa reminded me... See full review

StoryIn a sense, Uta Kata is a unique series in that it doesn't specifically have an antagonist - you could consider the mysterious woman who likes to stand on rooftops 'observing' the main characters as a villain of sorts, but she's not the usual "evil" kind. And I think this is actually where the series starts to fall down; it has no motive behind it. I completely disagree with the synopsis provided on the Anime-Planet Recommendations Database that suggests that Ichika is attempting to bridge the gap between nature and humanity, because... See full review

StoryWhen a series claims that it spins a tale that spans a thousand years of history, it's natural to be a little wary of problems with chronology - how exactly can you tell a story that takes place over such a huge length of time? As a regular anime viewer, I'm used to the odd childhood flashback (it's almost a staple diet in romantic series nowadays) but this is a different undertaking entirely.Luckily, the story isn't as temporally confusing as it's made out to be. We start in the present, with the protagonist, Kunisaki Yukito, a travelling puppeteer who is on a quest to... See full review

StoryNeon Genesis Evangelion was extremely popular in its time (some would say, it still is) and I believe the main reason for this is its captivating storyline. While the idea of humans riding around in giant robots wasn't particularly new when it was released, with series like Gundam and films like Roujin Z preceding it, Evangelion does successfully bring new ideas to the "mecha-table". We're given the impression right from the very first episode that the Evas aren't fully under the control of the humans who created them - that there is something more to their existence than... See full review

StoryThe one thing that attracted me to this series more than anything else, was the basis. Whatever synopsis you read for Rizelmine, it will always promise a high-paced comedy rollercoaster (which, at times, it delivers). Twelve year old genetically-engineered Rizel marries a fifteen year old boy, Tomonori Iwaki, much to his chagrin - and the fun starts there. Each episode sees Rizel attempting to get closer to an increasingly irritable Tomonori, and desperately trying to figure out what it means to be "a good wife."But let's talk technical for a minute: Rizelmine aired on Japanese... See full review

6/10 story

4/10 animation

3/10 sound

8/10 characters

5.5/10 overall

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